another thing to take into account is that people have different ideas of what pseudo fits are! the idea that you wont hurt yourself when having an involuntary fit is ridiculous!
some people say pseudo to mean put on or fake, but the true definition is that they are a psychological problem, which is involuntary, so it could happen anywhere at any time! so it is possible to hurt yourself!
i also agree with you about the dr's saying pseudo when they dont actually know what it is! which makes it more difficult to deal with, because after someone has painted you with that brush, not many dr's are bothered! which is the worst feeling, the people who are supposed to be helping you, wont!
i hope you and your daughter get some answer and hope she gets better!
take care! x

My 16 year old daughter has had several seizures. I took her to the ER and they sent her to a Neurologist. He said she had Migraines and Pseudo seizures and gave us a referal to a psychologist to rule out Depression. My daughter was furious to be told it's all in her head. I will check on a Epileptologist. Thank you for your information.

its not a problem!
but i do agree with you about the dr's not having a clue about what it is! they said the same to me about hurting myself when i had them!
it just frustrates me, because mine have now been proven to be epileptic fits! which deep down i knew all along, because i do have epilepsy! when one dr mentions psuedo fits, not many take notice and treat you like an inconvenience! only one dr in 4 months actually listened to me and believed me!
but my arguement is, that if someone is having psuedo fits surely its just as debilitating as any fit or illness! there is still something wrong! but yet you get treated as though you are just wasting their time!
have you read up about pseudo fits or anything! it really does give you a good indication of what is going on and you can see if it applies to your daughter! but remember not every patient is the same, so keep an open mind! it will just give you an idea!
the best thing you can do, which im sure you are doing, is to be there for her! the worst thing for me was the way my mum was with me!
she didnt believe they were real and sometimes after spending hours in a&e and being very down about it anyway, she would shout at me!
i know its hard for you and your daughter, but just try and be patient!
hope you get everything sorted! take care! x

Hi all,

I'm new to this site but am pleased to see people taking pseudo seizures seriously.

My Story:
* About 2-3 months ago I started having 'episodes' where I'd get up (not in a rush or anything) and make it half way across the room and end up collapsing, with muscle spasms. My vision would blur and my ears would do that high pitched thing and I'd feel a bit 'out of my body'.

It didn't really worry me at first, I have a pretty sensitive body and since I was little, I would have my leggs collapse from under me when having a head rush, perfectly normal.

This was happening approx 4-5x daily, until one day it happened and I passed out.

I was making my way across the room and felt it coming on so stopped and heled the door to stop myself colapsing.

The next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor with my head bashing against the wall (and other limb spasms). Obviously this was quite worrying and try as I might I couldn't stop hitting my head against the wall and all I could utter was 'uuh' until eventually I stopped.

I'd bashed my head, bruised my arm in two places and scratched and bruised down my back where I suspect I hit on a dumbel on the way down. (I was in my flat, on my own.)

It happended again later that day when I was standing on the bed. According to my bf I slid down the wall and lay on my back on the bed. He tried calling me 3x before I responded. I don't believe I had muscle spasms then, but the bed may have dampened them.

I had an emergency appointment at the doctors the next day, blood pressure normal, both sitting and standing, booked for an ECG, that was normal, then the 'you have pseudo seizures' *faking it?* routine.

I was told to take a month off (then they realised I'm a final year uni student with exams in a few weeks) and they said: well, take a few days off. At this point I'd already taken nearly 2 weeks off, and that was before I'd started passing out. I was pretty sure I wasn't stressed since I don't want to go into what I study at uni, but apparently my body and subconscious tell me otherwize!
I was told to go away, come back if it happened again and they'd investigate it if it continued after my exams.

They died down (I'd been taking it VERY easy) and at this point I must point out I had been on a diet for 2.5 months and lost a stone. I was still a healthy weight (just) and was eating healthy also. For anyone who doesn't know about dieting, loosing a stone in 2.5 months is healthy. So I figgued it probably wasn't that, but like I say I have a sensitive body so maybe it couldn't cope like other peoples.

As the time went on I started experiencing 'little episodes' where I wasn't colapsing or passing out but did have little muscle spasms, mostly in my arms.
I ignored them.

I'm curently waiting for a CT scan which is otherwize related. (so we think.) so it would be interesting to see what that shows, presumably nothing if it is pseudo. The scan is for my head- I have ear and nasal problems which the doctors cannot recognise, I have been seeing various people about it since it began 3 years ago. From looking at other forums other people have experienced this also, been for a scan and found nothing. One man even had to give up work because of how bad it it. (basically feels like you're breathing through cotton wool constantly, can't equalise air pressure in ears, feeling of clogging in head, dizzyness, tiredness, sensitive to noise, wind and coldness, also I can't taste very well which has the added annoyance of a tendency to overeat to get some taste.) I'm not sure if all this is related. Oh, also no sprays have ever worked, they all make it worse, the feeling of my eyes being forced through my head. All the doctors say is: well it should work, I don't know why its making it worse. Helpful.

Coupled with these, I'm pretty sure I suffer from bipolar 1 disorder, since the age of about 5. I was lucky enough to realise this at the young age of 16 from studying it briefly at A level psychology. At 14 I tried committing suicide (therapy unhelpful family in denile, also I'm the black sheep amongst my family and planning on breaking with them after graduating in a few months).

After a hectic first year at uni where I could be myself and not styfle it to save my family I realised how serious it was. Having explored the avenues myself of bioloical (family) link, social link and then trying cognitive behaviour therapy on myself and finding nothing helpful I suppressed as much emotion as I could or things that would cause emotion and bring on mania/depression, (such as music, art, dance, the news, reading etc, all of which I love).

After 2 years of doing this (and living a half life) it came back to bite me from stress of final year exams and finally being free to do what I want, break with family, midlife crisis: what do I do now? that quite a few students go through when they leave uni.

I'm currenly looking into getting diagnosed, mostly because I'm afraid that now I have to get a job, I wont be able to attend all the time so worried about getting fired etc and therefore looking for Government support (p.s: does anyone now what Government support is available for people with bipolar?)

I'm torn since many people don't understand it and prejudice still surrounds it in the work place and society, heck I'm afraid to make friends because of how theyd react, its so bad they wouldn't understand unless I told them, and then they might leave. I also tend to have slow and rapid cycles so even getting to town on my own scares me since I never know if I'll come back.
So basically I'm only getting diagnosed because I need financial help and the possile support of a care worker. My doctor even said, as a doctor she recommends getting diagnosed, but if she was in my shoes, she's not so sure.

Getting back to the point: I hear mentioned that pseudo seizures are related to bipolar, and that bipolar is often treated with some epilepsy drugs, which makes me think it is mostly biological and that docs just dont really know about that brain region. Also someone mentioned there are 3 types of pseudo seizures and only one is actual faking, does anyone know what the other two are?

I am a 21 year old female.

My appologies for such a long entry, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if all of this is related.

Has anyone else experienced anything of what I have?

These posts have been very helpful. The last few weeks have been pretty crazy! i am 22 years old and have no idea whats going on. i too have also been told i may have psuedo fits, however the doctors etc have been goood to me about it. normally these fits happen when im sitting around not doing much but i have been stressed a bit. however last night it happened a few minutes before i was suposed to finish work. so if it is purely psychological, what is soo stressful about going home. it was more stressful having the fit in front of my co workers... i had 2 ambulances come and ended up in hospital for the third time in 3 weeks. i have seen a neourologist at the first seizure clinic and my next appointment is 5 weeks away and he was most likely going to admit me into the clinic for testing for 5 days to try and work out what is going on.
even though i have been told i could be faking it the doctors have been very good about it, so i guess in that sense i am lucky.
just like everyone else i want to know what is going on because i am moving to another state to start a new life and get away from the stress, so these fits better not stop that from happening.
it was good reading all the posts because now i know i am not the only one experiencing these 'fake' fits.

these fits are far from fake, a better term for it is Non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD).
i have been treated terribly in my local hospital but after going to watch manchester united i had a fit and stayed in hospital in manchester. was treated very well and then got diagnosed with NEAD. i also have epilepsy but the seizures i have been experiencing recently are due to a build up of stress, it can happen whether you feel stressed at the time or not. it is a subconcious thing.

i have also been told to get extra support, pyschologically and to carry on with my life as normal but taking into account safety.

a lot of my friends have "ditched" me due to all that is going on but i do have a very good network of friends who are very good and stand by me, which does help and makes me feel more confident.
although i am extremely worried about upsetting them as one of my closest friends was physically sick and in tears after he saw me fitting and the last thing i want to do is upset him. despite this he is very supportive and i can rely on him.

even though all this has happened i am optimistic about the future and have plans about what i want to do.
i am trying very much so to carry on with everything i enjoy doing.
i still play football, go on nights out with friends(usually ends badly but i still have a good night until then, i just have to avoid alcohol), take my dogs on long walks, bike rides and everything i enjoy doing.
i believe it is just mind over matter, the more you lock yourself away from the world the harder it is to confront and treat. if you push yourself and carry on as usually it is easier to change your subconcious.

it is treatable if you get the help and except the fact that it is something you have, it took me a while but it is possible. i still have the occasional fit but it is a lot better and im gradually becoming able to control it.

good luck to everyone experiencing this, it is possible to get through it.
take care. x

I hope I can reply to this without joining another forum, (I have joined a million forums since having my first seizure in March). I had my first "grand mal" seizure in March. Another in May. I have had these other weird seizures where I just stare off and twitch. With the grand mals, I am doing one thing and then the next thing I know, I am in the hospital, strapped to a hospital gurney, (I get violent during my seizures apparently). With these others, I can hear people speak, but I cannot move, cannot speak....totally weird. I get "auras" before I have seizures and it is almost a full moon, (I have had all of my grand mals near or at full moons). But what makes me think I am about to be told I am "faking it" or at least partially so, (I just went through rehab for alcoholism in January, had the first seizure in March. I saw DT's written in my medical record when I saw my PCP last week. I hate it when these docs blow us off. BUT, I defend myself by stating that I went through a medically supervised detox for a week BEFORE a two week rehab program in January and my TWO back to back seizures happened in March, Almost 2 months after I completed the program...anyhow....I had an abnormal EEG after the first seizure in March. I had an allergic reaction to the Dilantin and decided to stop all meds and had another seizure in May. Right around the full moon. The first one was around the full moon too. Anyhow, I am Topamax. My Neurologist made a comment 2 weeks ago that maybe I should come to grips with the bipolar diagnosis. Was he alluding to my faking my seizures? I tell you, I was seeing a patient, felt the room do a Matrix like move....I walked out to go into a room alone. A co-worker saw me about to go to the floor. She caught me and the the rest of the story involves the EMT's and me waking up in the ER.

My 19 yr old daughter started twitching several years ago. Every morning when she woke up, she would twitch and lose control of her arms, dropping shampoo bottles in the shower, hitting herself in the head with the blowdryer, etc. We took her to a neurologist who diagnosed her with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. He prescribed her lamictal and we were on our way to being better. Several months later, she was hospitalized for a staph infection that required surgery. They put her under and when she was in recovery trying to wake up, she started seizing. They put her into a drug-induced coma until they could figure out what was causing her to seize. The neurologist who saw her said that her seizures were not epileptic and that she was just faking it. I was flabbergasted. The nurses in the recovery room and even the anethesiologist ALL said they looked like epileptic seizures to them. They have done countless tests on her, MRI, brain scan, etc. and can not find out what is causing her to have these seizures. She is now on Kepra and it seems to be controlling her twitching and seizures very well but we still don't know what causes it. Seems like it's every time she wakes from sleeping or from being put under.

I was just re-reading some posts, including mine and had a thought....most pseudo-seizures are in women...and who uses artificial sweeteners and diet products the most? I know when I was in my 20's and drank 6 diet cokes a day, (dumb, huh?) I started to get these weird tremors in my hands.....just a thought about seizures that are hard to diagnose and artificial sweetener use...Seems I've read something about aspartame and some health problems....

my daughter too has been having these episodes of the body jerking, eyes rolled back, groaning, but hers seems to be lasting longer.The last one lasted for alittle over 2 1/2 hours. She has had eeg,veeg,ct scan, ekg, and numerous blood work done. she was diagioned with syncope last year so her drs are trying to play it all off on her cardiologist because all of their testing has came back clear. I can tell you that these are not fake and these seizures started about 2 months ago with her having a relaxing day on a boat with friends just after her nasal fracture surgery (2days after to be fact) and this seizure was incontinent for over 3 minutes, but the rest since then have been the ones that the say are not affecting the brain but something on her chart is alarming because something that they wont tell me but have heard them talking has spiked to a 2.1 which they say is not normal with psuedo seizures. they have told my 15 year old daughter that there is someting wrong but they don't know what it is. They have not set us up with any other drs because they don't know where to send us and our family ped. is trying to say its psuedo and leave us hanging. I don't know what else to do contacted school, teachers, and counslers a and they all say something is seriously wrong and beleive the same as me that they are not psuedo. My daughter is very upset with the family ped and says that there is something wrong and someone will find it.. I hope so.